A. Related Applications
There are no applications for patent relating hereto hertofore filed in this or any foreign country.
B. Field of Invention
My invention relates generally to vehicle condition monitoring apparatus and paricularly such apparatus that provides visual indication of engine condition with associated audio and visual alarm means and an engine kill means.
C. Background and Description of the Prior Art
Monitoring apparatus to provide information pertaining to a motor vehicle's various engine and driveline operational characteristics is known in the prior art. Included in this category of apparatus are monitoring devices that provide condition indicators of oil pressure, electrical charging status, water temperature, and even transmission and differential fluid temperature. Such monitoring activity is generally accepted as useful to minimize driveline component damage in motor vehicle operation by alerting an operator to the various conditions of such components during use. Monitoring devices of the past have included various means to alert an operator to unsafe driveline conditions, but driving obligations requiring alertness to highway conditions tend to minimize time available for detailed attention to monitoring devices per se. Accordingly an unsafe condition arising in a motor vehicle driveline may not be detected, and if undetected may result in serious economic loss as well as creating a hazardous driving condition.
Various means have been utilized in prior art devices in an effort to alert an operator to an unsafe vehicle component condition and to this end, devices such as kill switches and illuminated signals have been utilized. Unfortunately, devices of the past have failed to fully address the problem in contemporary driving situations to relay information and alert a driver to necessary monitoring information because of driving obligations, thereby, partially at least, failing to fulfill their intended purposes.
My invention, in an effort to overcome such shortcomings of prior art devices, provides a coordinated warning system having various warning components to alert various of an operator senses to an unsafe condition and thereby providing an operator's necessary time to take adequate steps to deal with driveline problems as may occur. Further included in the monitoring system of the instant invention is an engine kill device that will, after an appropriate time delay, deactivate or shut off a vehicle's engine to minimize damage that might occur due to an engine's continued operation in the presence of an alert condition.
A monitoring console is set forth that may be positioned within a vehicle's dashboard, or as a separate attachable unit securable relative to a dashboard, including engine temperature, oil pressure and charging system indicators. Additional monitoring gauges may be incorporated as desired to provide other information, for example, transmissin fluid temperature and differential fluid temperature. Gauges utilized by my apparatus are formed as a matrix of light emitting diodes (LED) controlled by electronic digital display circuitry which accepts analog information from monitored engine components and converts this information for digital LED display. Typically, a color code system is utilized that varies from green through yellow to red to present indication of condition, be it safe, warning or danger, respectively. This colored graphical display of information is of an easily readable and immediately comprehensible nature to be readily cognizable and interpretable by an operator of a motor vehicle.
Included in the monitoring console is switchable audio means, in the form of a loud speaker, associated with my sensing apparatus that upon occurrence of an unsafe monitored condition emits an audible signal to alert a vehicle operator to the condition. Coordinated therewith is a visual signaler in the form of a flashing illuminated light member, apart from the illuminated LED units, to provide further visual indication of an improper vehicle component condition.
In addition to the above warning elements, the instant invention incorporates an engine kill means, operatively interrelated to the warning annunciators, as a total engine protection package. The engine kill means of my invention operates after an appropriate time delay responsive to an improper operating condition being sensed and indicated. The engine will be shut down to limit damage by its continued operation.
My apparatus thusly provides an interrelated package of a monitoring and display means coordinated with an engine kill device and associated audio and visual warning components. The invention resides not in any one of these structures or features per se, but rather in the synergistic combination of all of them as herein disclosed and claimed to provide the functions that necessarily flow therefrom.